October 21, 2012

Native Californian File Folder Report

There is so much you can do with a file folder.  

The other week my class was taking a break from Life Science and we did a 
week of learning about Native Californians.

In our Social Studies book we have ONE lesson about Native Californians, which in my humble opinion is not enough to properly cover the information.

So, what do I do?  I supplement.


A couple of years ago I used the power of Google to find this free printable on Teacher Vision that helps my students in their research process.  It's from Teacher Created Resources - they know how to make great products.   

I check out all the books of the different tribes from our school library, and the students get a chance to work in groups to locate information.  We work on this skill in class for the Native Californians, as learning to search for information is the main reason that we do accomplish this project - it helps get them ready for the future Mission Research Project that they complete at home.  

I created a list of questions (over at Google Docs) that the students are looking for when they use the books and quite honestly they love it. 

I think it's because it makes them feel grown up. 

It's not until after they are finished searching out the 2 pages of information that I let them even touch these 3 pages of file folder report material.  

How do I have my class set it up?

They use their 2 pages of A LOT of information to fill out the sheets about Culture, Food, and Shelter.  

They then glue the food and shelter pages into the inside of their folder, and put the culture page on the back side of the folder. 

 The final couple of steps are taking a map of the CA Tribes, bubble cutting it out, and coloring in the area their tribe inhabited.  They glue that onto the front of the folder and decorate the rest of their cover with the tribe name and any other detail they want to remember.

When it's all said and done, they stand up with their tribe partners and each share the most interesting fact they learned about the culture.  See?  I was thinking when I had them glue that onto the back of their folder.  When they get up front, I tell them that they are the experts and everyone wants to learn from them.  They feel so important having that big responsibility.  I love it because it's another opportunity for them to stand up front and face their fears of public speaking.   

Hope this helps!
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